Babeu may face new legal question

Ex's volunteer work for campaign at issue

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a nationally known advocate of tough immigration enforcement and border security, may have aided the violation of federal immigration laws himself by allowing his ex-boyfriend, a Mexican national, to work on his campaign as a volunteer, according to immigration experts.

He also may have illegally accepted a campaign donation from Jose Orozco, 34, who reportedly is living in the United States on a visitor's visa.

Babeu has maintained that he thought Orozco was in the country legally when he assigned him to manage his political-campaign website and social-media sites as an unpaid volunteer. But his campaign manager conceded Friday that the sheriff did nothing to verify that.

"No campaign does background checks on volunteers," said Chris DeRose, who also is Babeu's attorney. "People come in and people volunteer."

He added it was the campaign's understanding that Orozco was in the United States legally.

The Phoenix New Times reported this month that Orozco's lawyer said DeRose mentioned her client's "supposedly expired visa" in an effort to get him to sign a non-disclosure statement to prevent him from discussing his relationship with Babeu.

Federal regulations prohibit foreign visitors from doing volunteer work while in the United States unless the service is for a recognized religious or non-profit charitable organization that serves the poor and needy.

Under Internal Revenue Service rules, political campaigns are not considered non-profit charitable organizations. The IRS also prohibits non-profit organizations from participating in political campaigns.

Orozco, who has gone into hiding since he accused Babeu of threatening to have him deported if he didn't keep quiet about their years-long relationship, told a CNN reporter that he entered the United States legally with a 10-year multiple-entry tourist visa.

By allowing Orozco to manage his campaign website and social-media sites, Babeu may have aided a violation of federal immigration laws, legal experts say.

"He possibly facilitated someone violating his visa," said Evelyn Cruz, who is head of the immigration clinic at Arizona State University's law school.

What's more, it would be illegal for Orozco, a Mexican, to make a campaign contribution unless he had a permanent residence card, according to Amy Chan, the state's elections director.

DeRose also said he was unaware of a $40 contribution given to Babeu's sheriff campaign on Jan. 17, 2008, from a person identified as having the same name of Babeu's former boyfriend, Jose Orozco.

The sheriff's campaign-finance records indicate that the donor named Orozco was a student living in Chandler at the time.

Babeu's former boyfriend, with whom he had a three-year relationship, lived in Chandler for at least 10 months last year, though at a different address.

Chan said campaign contributions from non-U.S. citizens and those without a permanent residence card must be returned, or a campaign could face a financial penalty. She said late Friday afternoon that she did not know the exact amount of the penalty and that it would depend on the size of the contribution. However, she added, the easiest way to clear up such a problem would be for a campaign to return questionable contributions to the donors.

Babeu, a first-term Republican sheriff running for Congress in Arizona's conservative Congressional District 4, is one of the most well-known border-security and immigration-enforcement advocates in the nation.

His office also has agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allow trained deputies to enforce federal immigration laws and officers in the Pinal County jail to screen inmates for immigration violations.

An ICE official declined to discuss the matter because it would require speculating about information the agency did not have.

But she said Babeu would not have violated the federal employer-sanctions law if he did not pay Orozco any money or remuneration such as housing or services.

The state has a similar law.

But some immigration lawyers say Babeu showed a lack of judgment considering his background as a law-enforcement officer and his reputation as a strong supporter of border security and immigration enforcement.

They point out that Orozco, who had a relationship with the sheriff and did the work pro bono, was essentially taking a job from an American and saving Babeu from having to pay someone.

"Handling someone's website I don't think is analogous to what you would traditionally think of as volunteering. So, to me, that is why I don't think it passes the smell test," said Elizabeth Chatham, a Phoenix attorney who specializes in employment-based immigration law.

She said, at the very least, Babeu should have looked into the visitor-visa rules before allowing a foreign visitor to manage his website, pay or no pay.

"He should have inquired about what kind of duties would be acceptable for someone in a (visitor's) status to perform," Chatham said. "Like if he owned a company that did marketing and he had this guy do his website, I think ICE would come down on him and say, 'You are an employer who is allowing someone to work for you regardless of the fact you are not paying a wage.' "

Multiple-entry visitor visas are valid for 10 years before they must be renewed. They allow people from other countries to visit the U.S. for business or pleasure for a limited time, usually less than six months, before they must return home, she said.

She said visitor visas allow foreign visitors to conduct some limited business activities in the country, such as setting up a business, but visitors are not supposed to set up a business and earn money from it.

Orozco's business, Website Results LLC, was incorporated in July and was terminated in January, according to Arizona Corporation Commission records.

Leaving the country and returning repeatedly is also considered a violation, she said.

State Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City, who is running for Congress against Babeu, said it appears Babeu didn't check Orozco's background. Gould said vetting volunteers is a common rite in campaigns.

"It doesn't look like he (Babeu) really did anything in terms of checking the guy out," Gould said. "It didn't look like he ever bothered to do that."

Gould said he would have expected Babeu's campaign at least to look up voter-registration records.

"Generally, my volunteers, I'm running their voter registration to make sure they're Republicans" and to weed out anyone with a prior felony, Gould said. "I don't have to worry about them being foreign nationals if they're registered to vote. ... If he's (Jose is) Paul Babeu's boyfriend, he (Babeu) may have overlooked all of that stuff. He (Babeu) was involved with this guy, so he's not using his judgment. He lacked judgment."